Who Will Win La Liga in 2016/2017?

Although the Spanish La Liga has recently lost its share of excitement and joy, we are still guaranteed several great games during the season. Barcelona and Real Madrid practically hold the momentum in this league and only Atletico Madrid managed to mess with their calculations on one occasion – winning the title in a thrilling 2013/2014 season. For the last two seasons however everything went back to script and Real Madrid and Barcelona turned into the most competitive sides in the league.

While the rest of the league hardly plays a significant role in the campaign, Barcelona and Real Madrid battle it out until the very last game and we have no doubt that pattern will follow in the forthcoming season as well. We expect Simeone’s team to jump in, but Atletico have fallen short more often than not in the past.

Barcelona did defend their title from a highly successful 2014/2015 season, but overall it was considered a disappointment as the title was nearly lost in the final game of the season, while Champions league exit at the hands of Atletico Madrid came easier than expected. Barcelona have already made some improvements, signing two France defenders in Lucas Digne and Samuel Umtiti, solving long-lasting problems in defence. With a powerful attacking trio in Neymar, Suarez and Messi, Barcelona is the favourite for the title yet again and it is expected to compete until the very end on all fronts.

After a really slow start in their competitive season under Rafael Benitez, Real Madrid picked up from there and under the guidance of club legend Zinedine Zidane won the Champions league trophy and came very close of securing a La Liga title. Zidane already brought back Alvaro Morata from Juventus and is close to secure several others high profile players. It has been a while since Real Madrid won the La Liga trophy and this time around they will be gunning to achieve that feat. With a highly motivated team and coach on board, Real Madrid is up for big things yet again.

Atletico Madrid might be the weakest of the favorites financially, but have proven in the past that strategy and tactics wins games against the strongest opponents. Diego Simeone set up new standards in strategy football and he is now dangerous against any team in the world. However, Atletico rarely scores more than two goals per match, which is limiting for a team aiming for a La Liga title. They have one of the best strikers in the League in Antoine Griezmann and one of the steadiest defences in the league, but they rely too much on individual quality. There is not too many players capable of solving the game alone and that might be the trickiest part.

Although Sevilla, Villareal and Athletic Bilbao have proven to be a tough nut to crack in the past, it is very unlikely any of them will compete for the title, but all of the mentioned three teams will certainly struggle to take the points against these teams.

Barcelona are simply too strong, and time and time again we have seen them win La Liga. 4/5 seems a fair price.